Everyone has heard of the Oscar Awards for the movies but far fewer have heard of the James Beard Foundation Award, an equally prestigious award for people in the restaurant industry.

Like the Oscar's, The James Beard Foundation Award has numerous categories even though the most publicized are the awards for chefs. However, there are also awards for food journalists, broadcast media, food and beverage professionals, even restaurant architects and designers.

Three Vermont chefs are semi-finalists in the Best Chef Northeast category. This is the third year in a row that Eric Warnstedt, Hen of the Wood restaurant, Waterbury VT has been nominated. A few years ago, Eric was also named one of the Top Ten New Chefs in the USA by Food and Wine Magazine.